Wouldn't matter to me, either. I guess if you are using it for yourself and you plan to move it about to sewing at other places I would get something "new" cause I'm not into the vintage stuff. Except for my (maybe vintage) FW which I totally love, BTW. Mine is in it's original case but would not mind if it had a different one, cause it's not about the case in my case. ha
Sandy

Many of the vintage featherweight cases stink and I mean literally. The original glues that were used break down over time and often harbour musty odours. I keep a bar of Irish Spring soap in my Featherweight case all of the time and it still has a bit of a smell if it sits unopened for too long. A new case especially one of the soft padded ones would be great for your machine and you would avoid the well used, scuffed banged up, broken lock smelly case.

I have two FWs and both cases smell so bad that I cannot use them. I would be hesitant to purchase a vintage one off of eBay for fear of getting one with an odor problem. I opted to purchase a padded FW case and am pleased with it.

Linda There may be times we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. - Elie Wiesel

A machine that is not original all the way through is not really a collectable. Featherweights are not rare in the least, having been made for a very long time in mass quantities. So for me, I'd get a reproduction case and use it.
Our original case did stink pretty bad. We've gotten most but not all of that odor out, but like Shelbie says when it stays closed for a long time it will still stink.